King’s College’s male-voice choir All The King’s Men attended the NZCF National Finale, held at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington from Thursday 13 to Saturday 15 August. They competed against 23 other school choirs from around New Zealand and gained a silver award.
All the King’s Men had to perform five pieces over two recitals. In the first, they sang Hodie Christus Natus Est, a Christmas fanfare by NZ composer Cheryl Camm, Beati Mortui by Felix Mendelssohn and an arrangement of What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor by Alice Parker and Robert Shaw. Their second recital included Vistel-Vastel, an Estonian song by Veiljo Tormis about a local custom of tobogganing on Shrove Tuesday and Diraiton, a French poem by Ranier Maria Rilke describing a rose and set to music by the American composer Morten Lauridsen.
Head Chorister Denzel Panama (Year 13 Peart) said “there is always a great atmosphere at The Big Sing Finale and the trip to Wellington was really enjoyable. We got to sing amongst the country’s best school choirs and it was so rewarding to see our hard work pay off. The boys performed extremely well together, with many people complimenting us on our fine singing."
Many thanks to their conductor Mr Nicholas Forbes as well as accompanist Mr Chris Artley and vocal specialists Ms Gina Sanders and Ms Claire Scholes for all their hard work and dedication in teaching the boys and to HOD Music, Mr Chris Adams for helping to organise the trip to Wellington.
- Daniel Wright
